Anti-dazzling panel



May 30, 1967 G. TRUCILLG ANTI-DAZZLING PANEL 5 Sheets-Sheet Filed Marchl5, 1965 ATTORNEYS May 3o, 1967 INVENTOR Giovanni ruci//o ATTORNEYSUnited States Patent O 3,322,400 ANTI-DAZZLING PANEL Giovanni Trucillo,Naples, Italy, assignor to P.V.R. Plastici Vetro Rinforzati, S.p.A.,Milan, Italy Filed Mar. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 439,677 Claims priority,application Italy, Mar. 18, 1964, 6,022/ 64 1 Claim. (Cl. 256-24)ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An anti-dazzling barrier 4for road medianshaving a substantially rectangular frame vertically and iixedly mountedwith respect to the ground and a plastic panel having suitable opaquecharacteristics and xedly mounted within the frame.

. The present invention relates to a panel for anti-dazzling barriersfor road use, to be preferably disposed on the median strip of roads,turnpikes, or the like.

The anti-dazzling barriers in present use are constituted of hedges.Hedges, however, require some growing time before gaining suflicientgrowth to be useful and a periodical trimming to be kept at uniformlheight and thickness. Consequently, besides the initial installationcost, hedges involve high maintenance expenses.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide ananti-dazzling barrier which can eliminate the above cited disadvantages.v

It is also an object of the present invention to provide ananti-dazzling barrier that may be easily installed and requires onlysimple maintenance.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an anti-dazzlingbarrier which has low installation and maintenance c-osts and anextended useful life.

The present invention consists lof a rigid rectangular frame carrying ananti-dazzling screen constituted of a plate of plastic material, as forinstance polyester resin reinforced with glass bers, having suitableopaque characteristics.

In a preferred form of embodiment of the invention, the screen isconstituted by a plate -of polyester resin reinforced with glass bersand polyamide threads.

The screen is preferably provided with undulations. Particularadvantages may be obtained when these undulations have a rectilinearpath, running in horizontal sense. Panels of this configurationinstalled on the median strip of a two-directional road do not give riseto any reflection of the lights of the headlights of vehicles againstthe latter or against the following vehicles travelling in the samedirection. Moreover, the undulations also have the task of discharging,on the vertical elements of the frame, the stresses exerted by the windon the screen, and thus reduce the -bending stresses on the horizontalelements of the frame.

The panel is preferably installed in conjunction with the postssupporting the usual guard-rails. vIts height is such as to preventdazzling by the vehicles travelling in the opposite direction. Ingeneral, the upper horizontal element of the frame is at a level notless than 1.10 m. from the ground and the lower horizontal element ofthe frame may be approximately at the level of the guard-rail. Where noguard-rail is provided, or when it is not desired to use the guard-rail,the panel is secured to the ground by means of posts of suitable height,or the vertical elements of the frame are prolonged for a length whichwill place the screen at suitable height.

The frame consists of particular metallic units having a structuralsectional shape in the form of a rectangular box. The greater sides ofthe rectangle are disposed in the foregoing objects and other beapparent to those skilled in the are set forth in the following speciareillustrated in the accompanying a basic embodiment of the present of thepanel assembled on a view of the means for installing FIGURE 4 is asectional detail of the lower horizontal element of the frame, takenalong plane 4 4 of FIGURE 1 v FIGURE 5 is a sectional detail of avertical element of the frame, taken along plane 5-5 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 6 is a detail view of a partially assembled panel;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective and the associated gaskets.

Referring now to the figures, the rectangular screen 1 is made ofpolyester resin reinforced with glass bers, illustrated in front view inFIGURE 1. The screen 1 is inserted in a frame constituted by twovertical elements 2 and by two horizontal elements 3 and 4. The downwardprolongations of the vertical elements 2 are the extensions 5(illustrated in detail in FIGURE 2) for fastening the panel to theguard-rail. The upper corners of the panel are provided with hoodshapedangles 6 which serve to connect the vertical elements 2 with thehorizontal element 3. The angles are attached by any suitable means suchas screws or bolts. The extensions 5 are stiffened by means of struts 7which are rigidly attached to the associated members. FIGURE lillustrates the invention installed in conjunction with a pre-existingguard-rail 17 and posts 18. The invention may be rigidly attached to theposts by any suitable means such as bolts. FIGURE 2 is a detailed viewof one means for assembling the invention to posts 18 which may or maynot vbe ass-ociated with a guard-rail. In this particular embodiment,extensions 5 of the vertical elements 2 are rigidly attached to theposts 18 by means of bolts 19.

Referring to FIGURES 3 and 4, the horizontal elements 3 and 4 have asection approximating a rectangular box, in which the greater sides arehorizontal. For the purposes of the present invention, the wordshorizontal and verticaL referring to the panel, respectively indicatethe directions parallel to and perpendicular to the roadway where theinvention is installed, bearing in mind the fact that the roadway may beinclined.

The lower face of the element 3 and the upper face of the element 4 areprovided with an opening 8 for installation and fastening of thescreen 1. A wall 9 extends from inside of the lbox and projectsoutwardly from the opening 8 towards the area of the screen, for aheight wall 9 serves for view of an end of a panel and the angularmember 10 thereby avoiding possible displacements or vibrations of thescreen.

As previously mentioned, the screen 1 is provided with rectilinearhorizontal undulations 15 (best seen in FIG- URES 6 and 7) which areintended to avoid the reflection of the lights of the headlights of thetravelling vehicles against themselves or against the following traic.The undulations also serve to prevent the flexion of the horlzontalelements of the frame due to the stresses exerted by the wind on themajor surface of the screen. As will be seen in FIGURES 3 and 4, thehorizontal undulations are asymmetric and comprise two adjacent segmentsof different inclination.

The vertical elements 2 also have a section in the form of a rectangularbox (see FIGURE 5). The width of the elements is equal to that of thehorizontal elements 3 and 4. The opening, indicated by reference 12, isconsiderably wider than the openings 8 and is flanked by two walls 13and 14 which are similar to the previously described walls 9. Walls 13and 14 are disposed symmetrically with respect to the centerline of therectangular section, and define the above mentioned opening 12.

The walls 13 and 14 constitute a vertical opening or channel 12, whichcontains the vertical margins of the screen 1. Because of theundulations 15, these openings must have a width greater than theopenings 8.

In order to reinforoe the screen in the two vertical channels and toincrease its resistance to the stresses dueto the wind, thecorresponding margins of the screen are reinforced by means of elasticgaskets 16 (see FIGURES 3, 4, 5, and 7). The gaskets may be made of thesame material as the screen and must have the same prole as the screen.There are at least two gaskets for each vertical margin and their heightis substantially equal to that of tre screen. FIGURE 7 illustrates therelative positioning of the gaskets to the screen.

The gaskets are shown in an installed position in FIG- URES 3, 4 and 5.There are a sufficient number of gaskets installed to prevent the screenfrom loosely moving within the channel 12. A rst pair of gasketsenclosing the screen may have a width which is slightly smaller than theheight of the channel 12. A second pair of gaskets may also be disposedbetween the first gaskets and the walls 13 and 14 of the channel and mayhave a greater width in order to increase the stability of the anchorageand to facilitate the removal of the screen from the installed panel, asit is hereinafter explained.

The particular system for fastening the screen to the horizontalelements 3 and 4 has an advantage of facilitating the removal and thereplacement of the screen 1, thus reducing the cost of this operation.In fact, the invention may be disassembled by removing the twohood-shaped angles 6, loosening the angles 10 and removing the element3. The vertical elastic gaskets 16 may be removed either separately,horizontally from channel 12 or together with the screen 1 verticallyfrom the top of the frame. The screen may be replaced with anotherscreen by carrying out the same operations in inverse order.

It has been stated above that the screen 1 has suitable opaquecharacteristics. This is intended to mean that a certain amount of lightAfrom the headlights of oncoming vehicles will be absorbed by thescreen.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or central characteristics thereof. The presentembodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrativeand not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by theappended claim rather than the foregoing description, and all changeswhich come within the meaning and range of equivalency in the claim aretherefore to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

A panel for anti-dazzling barriers for road use comprising a rigidrectangular frame having horizontal and vertical elements, ananti-dazzling screen mounted in said frame, a lower portion of saidvertical elements of said frame extending beyond said screen to beanchored to means fixed into the ground, said screen comprising a platehaving suitable opaque characteristics, preferably of polyester resinreinforced with glass fibers, said plate of plastic material beingprovided with a plurality of rectilinear undulations along a horizontalplane, said frame elements -having a section in the form of asubstantially rectangular box having greater and minor sides, thegreater sides of said rectangle being disposed in the sense of the panelthickness, one of said greater sides of each said element having acontinuous opening therein, the opening in the greater sides of thesection of said horizontal elements having a width less than the heightof said undulations in said plate, said elements being assembled withsaid openings being inwardly directed to provide means for containingand fastening the screen therein, a wall member secured in and to oneside of said opening of each said horizontal element of the frame, oneedge of said wall member being xedly mounted on the inside of saidelement and the opposite edge extending outwardly from said openingtowards the area of the screen for a height nearly equal to that of theminor side of said element, at least one wall member being secured toeach side of the opening of each said vertical element, each said wallmember having one edge secured at the bottom of said element and theopposite edge extending outwardly towards the area of the screen, saidwall members in said vertical elements defining therebetween a channelsymmetrically disposed with respect to the mid line of each saidelement, an angular member detachably fastened to the other side of saidopening of each said horizontal element, said screen being anchoredbetween said wall member and said angular member, and a hood-shapedangle means detachably mounted for securing the upper horizontal elementto the vertical elements.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,130,287 3/1915 Horvath 256-242,336,999 12/ 1943 Peelle 52--624 X 2,589,517 3/1952 Stelzer 52-625 X2,723,107 11/1955 Parker 256-24 2,808,355 10/ 1957 Christie et al 52-624X 2,873,094 2/1959 Blum 256--31 2,992,711 7/1961 Mitchell et al 52--625X 3,037,593 6/ 1962 Webster.

FOREIGN PATENTS 228,822 8/1963 Austria. 1,300,536 6/1962 France.

671,339 2/1939 Germany.

DAVID I. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Examiner.

D. L. TAYLOR, Assistant Examiner.

